Getting to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Lebanon takes about an hour and a half, a beautiful drive up the Connecticut River valley. Since my appointment was for 7:00 a.m. we missed the beauty, but I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunity to appreciate it in the future.
The procedure went smoothly once they'd found my veins. Jerry and I talked with the doctor and got a handout including pictures of my ductwork. Think of photos of a tornado taken from above.
Basically, what Dr. Gordon said was that the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum were "endoscopically normal," but that there is a mass in the pancreatic neck. Further tissue samples were taken for more cytology. My case will be presented at the GI Tumor Board, and they'll consider "chemoradiotherapy to try and downstage the tumor for potential resection." Apparently it isn't clear whether this is a bile duct cancer involving the pancreas or a pancreatic cancer involving the bile duct; but the treatment options are the same in either case.
The Tumor Board meets on Tuesdays.
I slept all the way home and most of the afternoon, but feel fine today, and glad not to be going up to Lebanon through today's snowstorm.
I used to laugh at academic articles which always ended up "however, further research is needed to elucidate and validate these data." Now I feel like I'm living them.
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2 comments:
dear lucie, i am so sorry to hear what you are going through. our thoughts and prayers are with you. you are such an amazingly strong woman with such an optimistic attitude, we could all learn from your example. you have been so thoughtful to me over the past year, i hope to return the love and good thoughts. we love you. jenny lemmon.
Hey Lucie;
it sure sounds like you are in good hands.
I have green bananas on my counter.
Hope you're enjoying some knitting in and around the snow.
Jurate
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